Higher education increases the likelihood of a healthy and successful life. This study investigated the association between relative deprivation and aspiration for college education in adolescents in Japan. The data of the 2016 survey of the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the twenty-first Century, a nationwide birth cohort study following…

Background: High academic aspirations relate to higher achievement and better mental health, but less is known about how these aspirations are formed in relation to the educational context. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between overall school climate, with particular concern for the dimensions of school level…

We examine relationships between motivations towards higher education choices, gender and beliefs about the financial consequences of these choices. We control for home background, school type and students' expectations of grades they will achieve at age 16. We use a unique individual-level UK data set from a random sample of schools with a…

Indulgence in risky behavior is a reason for low academic performance. We hypothesized that four constructs including academic aspiration, self-confidence, interest in schooling, and peer influence mediate the relationship between risky behavior and academic performance. Data are from 1256 school-going girls in urban slums who came from the lowest…

An extensive body of research exists on the background characteristics that predict learner achievement. However, in South Africa, little attention has been paid to the level of educational aspirations and the factors that shape the level of aspirations. Using a bio-ecological systems theory of development, we explored the role of gender,…

Background: School climate can promote students' academic achievement and high educational aspirations. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life, norms, values, social interactions and organizational processes within a school. Objective: We examined for the present sample whether (a) school climate relates to academic…

In this paper, we explore how secondary school students' participation in structured, math- and science-focused programs outside of school is associated with the aspiration to, and actual enrollment in, a STEM major in college. Moreover, we examine how varying sociodemographic backgrounds are related to their participation in these programs. Using…

Background: Insufficient physical activity is a significant concern because a growing body of research demonstrates that physical activity during adolescence has numerous benefits on physical health, mental health, and educational achievement. A less-studied area of physical activity research is how physical activity participation in adolescence…

Reading motivation may help explain some discrepancies in higher education attainment among Latinx adolescents. Using a person-centered approach to understand underlying reading motivation profiles among N = 254 Latinx adolescents, results identified four ordered classes of reading motivation including, (a) a "High" class characterized…

This study's purpose was to determine whether specific youth assets (conceptualized as influencing health behavior at the individual, family, or community level) were prospectively associated with reduced alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATD) in a sample of Hispanic youth. A longitudinal community-based study was conducted with five waves of…

Applying path analysis to 237 secondary school students and 320 post-secondary students in Singapore, parents' education was found to have important effects on adolescents' educational aspiration as mediated through educational track and adolescents' financial stress and self-esteem. This effect is strong for adolescents in both secondary and…

A much larger proportion of English 14-year-olds expect to apply to university than ultimately make an application by age 21, but the proportion expecting to apply falls from age 14 onwards. In order to assess the role of socioeconomic status in explaining changes in expectations, this paper applies duration modelling techniques to the…

Research suggests that Latino adolescents face challenges with respect to their perceptions of success in academia while falling behind in school competencies. This study examines pathways between parent characteristics, adolescent perceptions of parental academic importance, school connectedness, and academic aspirations/expectations for Latinos…

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the protective influence of individual, family, and community assets from the initiation of sexual intercourse (ISI) for adolescents living in one-parent households compared with adolescents living in two-parent households. Methods: Five waves of data were collected annually over a 4-year period…

Background: Latino youth are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States and are at a disproportionately higher risk for experiencing negative life events (NLEs). However, there are few studies examining risk and protective factors for the potentially negative outcomes that Latino youth who experience high levels of NLEs may face.…